Welcome Rain

Thank goodness we got a real downpour yesterday (Saturday) evening. Saved me having to water especially as I want to introduce some slug nematodes which is best done when the soil is damp. More about that in a day or two.



In the meantime, things have started to germinate. Unlike last year, the peas in the 3ft trough have mostly germinated although having just taken a look, I think the rain brought out some critters (slugs or snails) as one has been completely eaten through). I will sprinkle some salt around the plants until I add the nematodes mentioned above. The lettuce in the 2 ft trough (top in the picture) have also germinated well.

Things in the main garden bed seem to be taking their time. A few leaf beet but no sign of the carrots, parsnips (which are notoriously slow), coriander or leeks.

1st Setback in new garden

I sowed some peas in a trough and was somewhat dismayed that not many germinated - only 3 in fact. I thought perhaps the seed was old but not to be put off, I put some more in the gaps and yesterday when I looked, a new one was popping up.

Today when I looked I was horrified to find a snail chomping on one of the larger seedlings.


In my other place where everything was grown in pots, I managed to get a relatively slug/snail free zone. I don't like using chemicals on my edibles, but did use pellets just around the pots so none of the nasty stuff got into the soil.

I did the same here but obviously, it hasn't worked too well. Now I know where all the other seedlings have gone. GREEDY SNAILS! This one even clung onto the bit it was feasting when I pulled it off.

There again, strangely, as you can see in the bottom picture, the trough with the lettuce hasn't been touched at all.


I was planning to train my clematis and honeysuckle later today which would mean having to move the pots so I'll put down some more pellets and keep my fingers crossed.

The other strange thing is, the seedlings in the proper garden bed don't seem to have been affected by slugs/snails at all and I certainly didn't put any pellets on that ground. There again, none of my parsnips have germinated so perhaps they started on them first.

I'll have to get some beer in and lay some traps. Slugs love beer so if you sink a container to soil level and almost fill it with beer they plop in and die a merry death. Looks gross though and you need a strong stomach when emptying the container.

New beginnings

Returning visitors may be wondering what on earth I've been doing as I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks. The answer is that I've moved.

I am still an urban girl with no car, but I now have a postage stamp garden. There's still a patio area for my containers but there's also a "proper" garden bed with "proper" soil.


As with many things in life, it's not by any means perfect.

Firstly it doesn't get the sun for much of the day at the moment. I'm guessing that as the days get longer, so will the amount sun on my little patch, however I think it is going to take quite a lot of experimenting to find exactly the right spots to grow the various fruit and veggies I have in mind.

Secondly, the garden bed is not only full of weeds and tough grasses at the moment, as can be seen in the picture, but there is a huge confifer in one of the adjacent properties - possibly +100ft - whose roots have invaded my little patch with a vengence.

Hoping to get that all dug over and relatively root free this weekend ready for some serious seed sowing next week.

In the meantime, I have sown some pumpkin, courgette and tomatoes indoors this week and also some lettuce and peas in troughs outside on the patio.

More soon.